Sometimes I wonder how Apevia does it. How can they offer dozens and dozens of different case designs, all very good quality, and all at very reasonable prices? I think Frank mentioned recently he counted over 120 varieties that Apevia produces, from micro cube portables up to full size towers and everything in between. I don't believe I've ever reviewed an Apevia case that I didn't like, and the X-QBOII is no exception.
Micro-ATX cases aren't for everyone. Traditionally they've been used primarily by the OEM's and are typically not much to look at. Not to mention they usually don't have a lot of room, have poor cooling ability and are difficult to upgrade, especially in the power supply area. This isn't the case with the X-QBOII. I was surprised at the amount of room there is inside, although things can be a bit tight around the back of the drives. Apevia has provided for two 120mm and two 80mm cooling fans, in addition to the one in the power supply. That's more than many mid-tower cases have! And since they've used a standard ATX format power supply rather than a micro-ATX, your options for upgrading are limited only by the depth of the PSU.
The unit that comes with the X-QBOII is a decent 500w, with dual +12v rails and enough amperage to cover most any hardware you can fit into the case. That includes up to two hard drives, two floppies and two optical drives, although you could certainly mix those around with some bay adapters, such as mounting a third hard drive in the second 5¼" slot. There's enough room for a full-size video card even, and the ability to take out the floppy bays if you don't use one and you'd rather have the space.
The only issue I ran into during installation was I couldn't fit the hard drive into the top slot with the motherboard, processor and memory installed. I probably could have angled it in if I had removed the memory, but since I only had one drive to install, I simply put it in the bottom slot. Other than that one minor thing (I wouldn't even call it a problem), I had zero other issues getting everything else hooked up. The X-QBOII looks great and with the included 120mm fan, plus some others I had lying around, the cooling ability is top notch.
I found the X-QBOII at an online retailer for around $70 for the non-windowed version, and only $5 more for the one with the window. When you consider that a 500w power supply is included in that cost, and that right now Apevia is offering a $15 mail-in rebate on select cases, the X-QBOII seems like a downright steal. Once again Apevia has hit a perfect balance between quality, functionality and price, earning the X-QBOII the OCIA.net Seal of Approval.
